Oceans Act—Canada Petroleum Resources Act

Moved the adoption of the report.

He said: Honourable senators, during clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-55, Senators Patterson and McInnis each proposed an amendment that was adopted.

The first amendment was introduced by Senator Patterson and amended clause 5 of the bill to enhance consultation and cooperation. This amendment works to ensure that prior to the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard designating an interim marine protected area by ministerial order, the proposed order be posted on the minister’s website and a 60‑day comment period be provided for. Written notice to be given to jurisdictions whose lands or interests may be affected by the proposed order is also provided for in this amendment.

The second amendment was introduced by Senator McInnis. It also amended clause 5 of the bill. This amendment was proposed to ensure that a certain level of detail is available to the public prior to the minister designating an interim marine protected area by ministerial order.

Prior to being able to designate an interim MPA, the minister must include, on the Fisheries and Oceans Canada website, the approximate geographical location of the proposed marine protected area and preliminary information on the habitat and species to be protected.

Your Honour, I wish to take the opportunity to thank all members of our committee for their due diligence on Bill C-55. It garnered some interest across the country. We had the opportunity to hear from people on several sides. I won’t say both sides because there are several sides to this bill. At the end of the day, we had pretty well a consensus at our table.

As chair of the committee, I want to take the opportunity to say thanks to the members for their time and effort in making sure that Bill C-55 was brought to the chamber here today and that the amendments took some time to debate. Senator Patterson took some time. He is not a member of the committee but he proposed the amendment and convinced most of us around the table that it was a positive amendment for the bill. Therefore we look forward to seeing Bill C-55 move forward. Thank you.